Jaguars' Rashean Mathis faces cloudy future

Saturday

Nov 19, 2011 at 7:48 PM

Tania Ganguli

This is still Rashean Mathis' team, he's not letting go of that.

He still wants to be around, he still is around. He goes to meetings and helps younger players watch film. He answers their questions and teases them. Mathis has been a Jaguar too long to let it go just yet.

"I might even try to travel this week if they let me,'' he said.

Mathis is about to embark on a few months unlike any other he's had in his life. He'll work to recover from a torn ACL, an injury he never had before. And while that process continues, he'll become a free agent, something he's never been before. If Mathis has it his way, the Jaguars will sign him again and he'll finish his career in Jacksonville. He'll talk about that when asked. But really he has more immediate concerns.

Related: Jaguars at Browns: Breaking down the game

"I definitely would rather play here than anywhere else,'' Mathis said. "... If it's meant to be, it will be. The things that I can control, I will control, and that's my rehab, that's getting back stronger, getting back healthy. The things that I can't control, trying to control them will drive me insane. I dont want to be that.''

GETTING THE NEWS

Mathis' knee gave out when he planted his foot on the Indianapolis turf in the second quarter of last Sunday's game. Minutes later, Mathis put his arms around two trainers he'd grown close with in his nine years playing for the Jaguars. They supported him as he made his way off the field in Indianapolis with his future so much more uncertain than it had been just a few moments before.

He sat on the bench and three linebackers wearing the only team uniform Mathis had ever worn professionally walked over for sympathetic pats on the head. Then the only NFL head coach he'd ever played for walked over to ask him how it felt.

Mathis had an MRI Sunday night upon returning to Jacksonville.

Dr. Carlos Tandron, the Jaguars team doctor, called Mathis around 7 a.m. Monday to give him the news.

"I might have said it sucked, but then jumped right back to reality and said, 'Ok it happens,'' Mathis said. "I'm not the first person it has happened to. Being in your contract year or whatever the case might be. I'm the guy that always says, everything happens for a reason. What you do when those things happen is the big thing. Now is the point of dealing with it, not asking why it happened.''

He started rehab that day to keep his knee flexible and strengthen his quadriceps. Renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews will perform the ACL replacement surgery on Nov. 28.

"Right now my quad is much stronger than they say they expected,'' Mathis said on Thursday. "Today I got a brace that I could walk in and walk normal in. My quad is still firing which something that they say is good. And the good thing is I didn't have a lot of swelling.''

CONTRACT YEAR

This season started out better than either of the past two years for Mathis, mostly because he was healthy. It helped him that the Jaguars added veteran safety Dawan Landry to the backfield, giving Mathis the kind of support he hadn't had the year before.

The Jaguars matched him up with opponent's top receiver throughout the season and he played his best games against the Carolina and Baltimore, the latter a Monday night victory for the Jaguars.

Some saw it as a clear sign Mathis was motivated by his rapidly expiring contract. He did, after all, skip OTAs in 2010 to make clear his desire for a new contract.

"For someone to say that about me don't know me,'' Mathis said. "The people that do know me, they know it had nothing to do with it. That's just not me. I don't have Bentleys parked in my driveway. ... Money would not allow me to play harder nor shut down. Thats just not my mentality.''

Motivation wasn't a factor after Mathis received his last big payday. He played better after it. The Jaguars gave him a five-year, $25.5 million extension after the 2005 season. The next year Mathis was named a Pro Bowl starter.

This time the Jaguars planned to wait until after the season ended to decide whether or not to offer a contract to the 31-year-old. Mathis said he has spoken with Jaguars general manager Gene Smith about his future with the team, and he said those discussions were positive.

RECOVERY TIME

Coming off an ACL injury makes the future more uncertain. It could mean Mathis returns to the Jaguars at a discounted price. That's what happened when the Jaguars signed Aaron Kampman in 2010.

Kampman tore his ACL in November of 2009, just like Mathis this year, and had the surgery at the end of the month, just like Mathis will.

"I had a good friend tell me most of life we spend trying to have control and close our hand,'' Kampman said, balling one hand into a fist. "Sometimes we're forced to live with an open hand. So I learned lot about living with an open hand.''

The Jaguars limited Kampman in his first training camp with them, and he was able to start the beginning of the season. He started and saw significant playing time in the first eight games, until he tore his other ACL.

Sometimes an ACL tear is a two-year injury. It was for former Jaguars guard Vince Manuwai, who struggled in 2009 after a torn ACL in the first game of 2008.

Because Mathis is a smaller player, his recovery time might not be as long.

"Whatever it's going to be, I'm going to beat the curve,'' Mathis said. "Whatever month they say I should be running, Ill be ahead of it.''

The timetable won't be clear until Andrews opens Mathis' knee to assess the damage and perform the surgery.

"It all depends on the guy,'' said Jaguars fullback Greg Jones, who has suffered two torn ACLs. "I seen guys where they BS with their rehab, don't be prepared mentally for what they have to do to come back. When they come back they aren't the same. I know Rashean, I know he's not that type of guy.''

While many parts of this situation are new to Mathis, an ill-timed injury isn't.

He broke his leg while at Englewood High School, just as college scholarship offers were coming in, and Florida State lost interest. Instead of going to a major football program, Mathis went to Bethune-Cookman and had a stellar career there.

Mathis was a teenager then, without the perspective he has now. He didnt take the same calm acceptance as he has this week.

"One of my scouts ... [said], this is kind of like your high school injury, Rashean, you came back stronger from that so just keep your head up, Mathis said.

He's determined that will happen again.

Tania Ganguli: (904) 359-4401

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